Identification of red flags for IgG4-related disease: an international European Reference Network for Rare Connective Tissue Diseases framework.

IgG4-related disease is a rare fibroinflammatory condition. Prompt recognition is fundamental to initiate treatment and to prevent organ damage. Diagnostic and classification criteria are primarily intended for use by clinicians with established expertise in IgG4-related disease.

Optimising Multi-stakeholder Practices in Patient Engagement: A Gap Analysis to Enable Focused Evolution of Patient Engagement in the Development and Lifecycle Management of Medicines.

Background: The PARADIGM consortium aimed to make patient engagement in the development and lifecycle management of medicines easier and more effective for all, with the development of new tools that fulfil robustly defined gaps where engagement is suboptimal.

Aims: To generate an inventory of gaps in patient engagement practices and process from existing global examples.

Methods: A large set of criteria for effective patient engagement previously defined via a multi-stakeholder Delphi method, were mapped under fourteen overarching themes.

Development of an international template to support patient submissions in Health Technology Assessments.

Objectives: To develop an international template to support patient submissions in Health Technology Assessments (HTAs). This was to be based on the experience and feedback from the implementation and use of the Scottish Medicines Consortium's (SMC) Summary Information for Patient Groups (SIP).

Methods: To gather feedback on the SMC experience, web-based surveys were conducted with pharmaceutical companies and patient groups familiar with the SMC SIP.

Understanding multi-stakeholder needs, preferences and expectations to define effective practices and processes of patient engagement in medicine development: A mixed-methods study.

Background: The holistic evolution of patient engagement in medicines development requires a more detailed understanding of the needs of all involved stakeholders, and one that better accounts for the specific needs of some potentially vulnerable patient populations and key stages in medicines development.

Objective: The purpose of this convergent mixed-methods study was to better understand the needs of different stakeholders concerning patient engagement at three key stages in medicines development: research priority setting, clinical trial design and early dialogues with Health Technology Assessment bodies and regulators.

Design: This study brought together findings from three sources: i) an online questionnaire, ii) face-to-face consultations with two potentially vulnerable patient populations, a workshop with Health Technology Assessment bodies, and iii) three-step modified Delphi methodology.

Evaluation of patient involvement strategies in health technology assessment in Spain: the viewpoint of HTA researchers.

Objective: The Spanish Network of Agencies for Assessing National Health System Technologies and Performance (RedETS) defined a patient involvement (PI) framework for health technology assessment (HTA) activities in 2016. The aim of this study is to evaluate the process and impact of those PI initiatives that were implemented in the first year following the publication of this new framework.

Methods: A survey was sent to those HTA researchers who implemented PI in RedETS projects.